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Norfolk & Region

Ash borer guts Memorial Forest

LPRCA employee Frank Schram has been busy this week pulling the stumps of dead ash trees out of the ground at the Long Point Region Memorial Forest north of Port Rowan. (MONTE SONNENBERG Simcoe Reformer)

Trees planted in memory of the dearly departed aren’t supposed to die themselves.

But that’s what has happened at the Long Point Region Memorial Forest north of Port Rowan. More than 100 trees – some of them among the oldest on the seven-acre property – have been cut down in recent weeks.

Left behind is a large, ugly void in the centre of a place known for its quiet beauty and tranquility.

If you haven’t guessed by now, the culprit is the emerald ash borer. Over the past four years, the pest has swept through southern Ontario like a scythe, killing most every ash tree in its path.

The Memorial Forest is located at the south entrance of the Backus Heritage Conservation Area.

The Long Point Region Conservation Authority began to hear complaints about the state of the forest following last year’s memorial planting in September. People complained that dead trees in a forest dedicated to the memory of dead people were not appropriate.

The LPRCA responded by reaching out to families that have sponsored trees and asking them what they wanted to see happen. A consensus has emerged to correct the situation and get on with developing the forest.

As it stands, the heart of the forest is littered with dead trees. LPRCA employee Frank Schram was at the controls of a backhoe Friday ripping out stumps.

“Some were dead and some were dying,” Schram said. “So we decided to come in and do them all at once – rip the Bandaid off really quick.”

The LPRCA stopped planting ash trees in the Memorial Forest several years ago once it figured out that the ash borer was headed this way. Cliff Evanitski, general manager of the authority, says it’s unfortunate the decision to plant so many ash trees proved to be a mistake.

“Part of the thinking then was that ash was a fast-growing tree,” Evanitski said Friday. “We wanted to establish the forest as quickly as possible.”

Once the stumps are removed, the vacant spaces will be filled with Carolinian species that are not prone to disease or vulnerable to pests.

The emerald ash borer is native to Asia. It is believed to have arrived in North America in the early 1990s in wooden shipping material.

The borer’s presence in this part of the world was confirmed in 2002. It is so devastating in North America because there are no natural controls on it.

The borer drills into ash trees and lays eggs. The larvae hatch and eat portions of the tree critical to transporting nutrients and water between root and canopy.